Black Polnareff
Introduction During the story arc in Egypt, Jotaro and Polnareff are attacked by a Stand known as Anubis (アヌビス神 Anubisu-shin), a sword capable of controlling anyone who unsheathes it. After defeating Chaka and Khan, the Anubis sword cracks in half. Polnareff accidentally unsheathes the sword while struggling with a policeman who's been trying to take it. Black Polnareff (or Anubis Polnareff) is a Passive Stand character, controlling both Silver Chariot and the broken Anubis Sword at the same time. Black Polnareff is all about precision and rushdown as he has no long-range moves at his disposal. He has several ways to unleash deadly combos on his opponent, however, all of its variations are very difficult to pull off properly. Black Polnareff is also known for his ridiculous 214+AA super. 'Pros & Cons' + High damage attacks + Powerful super move that can be comboed into + Seemingly simple to play + Very fast meter build - Passive Stand character - Very limited movelist - Learning optimal combos requires good knowledge of the game's mechanics and large skill - Easy to punish attacks Movelist Normals 5A - A quick jab. Can link into 2B on its own and into 5B and 5C from a crouch cancel. Works well as a late anti-air. 5B - A toe kick that moves Polnareff towards the opponent. 5C - Polnareff performs a spinning horizontal slash right in front of him. Very good horizontal range. 2A - Silver Chariot jabs with the handle of his sword. Hits low. 2B - Silver Chariot shows up and pokes the opponent's shins with its sword. Hits low. 2C - Polnareff performs an upward quick draw technique with the Anubis sword. This is the only crouching attack Polnareff can perform while Silver Chariot is out. Does not hit low. j.A - Jumping jab pointing downwards. Very fast but lacks active frames. j.B - A very solid jumping elbow attack. Great both in air to ground and air to air. j.C - A quick downwards slash with the Anubis sword. Good air to ground. 'Dashing Normals' d.5C - Very similar to 5C except it launches the opponent on hit. d.2C - One of Polnareff's best approach tools, it comes out fairly quick and unlike the regular version of 2C, it magically hits low. It's also a very meaty attack and you can link into 2A after it, though it's very difficult. Command Normals 6C/4C (Close) - Polnareff stabs the opponent with the Anubis sword and then kicks them away. Regular grab damage. 6C - Polnareff does a far-reaching kick similar to the one Chaka does. Very similar properties to 5C except it comes out a bit faster while its range is minimally worse. There's no reason to use it over 5C. Unique Moves ''Silver Chariot'' - S' Silver Chariot performs a specific attack depending on the direction held while using this attack. All of these moves can be used to cancel from normals. Unfortunately, most of these attacks have little to no use as they either recover for too long or leave Polnareff unable to move for quite a while. All attacks from Silver Chariot are air unblockable except for the jumping variation. 5S - Silver Chariot performs a low thrust toward the opponent's head. 2S - Silver Chariot thrusts toward the ground. Hits low. 4S - Silver Chariot slashes upward, striking three times. Works well as a very situational anti-air. 6S - Silver Chariot appears and after a lengthy delay, slashes forward. j.S - Silver Chariot thrusts forward and toward the ground. ''Guard Cancel - '''623 + A/B/C (While Blocking) Silver Chariot performs a quick slash with its sword, knocking the opponent far away. It's the same Guard Cancel as with the regular version of Polnareff. Special Moves Ogre Slash "Kiren Zan" - 236 + A/B/C, 236 + A/B/C or 214 + A/B/C, 236 + S Polnareff lunges forward while swinging the Anubis Sword, then goes for another hit with Silver Chariot. This is a two-hit rekka special with a special followup after the second 236+A/B/C. The 236+A/B/C followup can combo and hits low. It can be then canceled into 236+S for additional hits. The 214+A/B/C followup does not combo, however, it's overhead and can be useful during mixup game in case the attack was blocked. If the overhead hit connects with the opponent, you earn a combo reset with 2B. This special is the main part of Black Polnareff's primary combo, however, it can be easily interrupted, so watch out. Do not use the A version of this special as it cannot combo into either of the followups. The B and C versions each have slower startup times but cover more distance. Double Sword Mastery - 623 + A/B/C Polnareff calls out Silver Chariot to perform a spinning sword attack. Every version of this attack has different properties. A Version - Chariot spins his own sword. Fastest and safest option. Least Damage. Launches. B Version - Chariot spins the Anubis sword. Slower startup and more lag than the A Version but more damage. Launches. C Version - Combination of the A and B version. Similar start-up of the A Version but, the lag of the B Version when it ends. Most Damage. Does not launch unlike the other versions of this move. All versions can be used to end combos with, with C version having the best damage output of them all, including the fact it's the only version that works against characters with Stand On. The A version can work fine as an anti-air, but it cannot be abused. 'I've Learned it!' "Oboetazo!" - 214 + A/B/C Black Polnareff waves his sword right in front of him, preparing to counter any incoming physical attack. Once countered, if the same attack will be blocked from now on, any attack button can be pressed during the blocking animation to easily counter the opponent with a normal attack. This special is shared by all Anubis Stand users. Chariot Spit - '236 + S' Silver Chariot appears, stabbing the air in front of him repeatedly at lightning speed. After a short startup, Polnareff can move independently while this attack is happening and attack the opponent on his own. This attack is insanely easy to punish with a super in case it was blocked or whiffed, so watch out when you use it. Super Moves ''Madness Blade'' -''' 236+AA Silver Chariot strikes the air in front of him in an upward slash much like the normal Polnareff's super. If it contacts, Silver chariot stabs the opponent numerous times and then delivers a knockout blow with the Anubis sword. While similar in appearance to regular Polnareff's super, it has a much smaller hitbox, making it a very poor anti-air. The damage scaling makes this super not too good for shorter combos, but it's easier to combo into than 214+AA in some particular situations. Unsafe on block. ''Invincible Slash ''-'' ''214+AA''' Polnareff summons Silver Chariot and poses for a long period of time. After a while Silver Chariot rushes forward, delivering a slashing blow to the opponent. If the attack connects, Black Polnareff follows it up with a devastating high damage slash. While this super's startup time is very slow, it's nearly fully invincible until the moment Silver Chariot lunges forward, making it a great super to just throw out randomly during the fight. It is also air-unblockable and can combo off several normals, though doing so requires insanely fast input. It can be punished by some very fast attacks if blocked point blank, though, and Silver Chariot is vulnerable during the move's recovery, so whiffing this super is not an option. Combos Black Polnareff can link most of his normals into most of his S moves, the exception being 6S which has some start up before the move actually hits. None of these combos make much damage, and even then a lot leave Black Polnareff open for a counterattack. A lot of Black Polnareff's combos can be started off his jumping normals, they do require hitting pretty deep into the jump though, the best being j.B. Black Polnareff's BnBs and longer combos require the use of his rekka special. He also has a lot of very difficult links which can lead to some devastating combos. 'Basic Combos' Here we will cover all of Black Polnareff's links before heading into his combos: 5A 5A 2B - Two jabs link into 2B. 2A 5A 2B - Crouching low jab into standing jab into 2B. 2A 2C - Standing jab into quickdraw slash. 2C 5C - Frame perfect link. 2C 6C - Slightly easier than the one above, but note that 6C has shorter range than 5C. d.2C 2A - You can follow up with 2A after a dashing 2C. d.2C 5A - Two frame link, quite useful. 5A 5B - Requires a trick known as Crouch Canceling. By holding down during the duration of 5A, you can cancel a lot of the recovery frames with the crouching animation. Releasing down will allow you to combo into standing normals faster than it'd be normally possible to do. 5A 5C - Same as above. Requires near frame perfect timing. Black Polnareff is filled to the brim with frame perfect links, turning a very simple character into an insanely difficult to play beast. Fortunately, he can still do the basic stuff for decent damage as he can pretty much combo into his rekka special off any normal. His primary BnB looks like this: any normal 236+B/C>236+B/C 236+S d.5C - Rekka into Chariot Spit into dashing C which either launches or causes hard knockdown (it's very random). Basic, simple, does high damage and builds a lot of meter. DO NOT USE 236+S AGAINST CHARACTERS WITH STAND ON UNLESS YOU CAN STAND CRASH THEM. They will not be knocked away with the final hit, and that can lead to an easy punish. You can either go for the links mentioned above or just link into the rekka special off any normal. It's up to you. Some other combos you might find useful: any normal 623+A/B/C - Can be safely used on characters with their Stands on. It might be hard to perform with Light attacks. Just don't use the A and B variations in longer combos against characters with Stand On. any normal 4S - There are a lot of ways to combo into Black Polnareff's 4S launcher. It's not particularly useful though. 5B/5C/6C/2C/d.2C 214+AA - These normals can combo into Black Polnareff's devastating super for some really high damage. 5B/d.5B/5C/6C/2C/d.2C 236+AA - These normals can combo into Black Polnareff's other super. Not as strong but still quite flashy. j.A/B/C j.S - Simple midair combo, best used when hitting the opponent while they're lower than you are. 'Combo Loop' Black Polnareff can loop his basic combo as long as he keeps close to his opponent. It is very difficult to do, but possible on most characters. It's also much easier to perform in a corner, as you will stick closer to the opponent, but, it's still possible outside of it. Note that 5A which is essential in this combo will whiff some of the shorter characters in the game. There is an alternative version of the loop which might work against them. Here's how the basic CORNER version of the loop looks like: (combo starter) 236+B/C>236+B/C>236+S hyper hop.j.A/B/C 5A 5A 5B 236+B/C>236+B/C>236+S hyper hop.j.A/B/C 5A 5A 5B... As you can see, after recovering from 236+S, you should instantly go for a hyper hop to recover distance and get closer to the opponent. Try to get as close so that you can land two jabs and a crouch canceled normal right after it. If done right, you won't drop the combo and Silver Chariot will recover from Chariot's Spit in time for you to go for the rekka again and repeat the whole process. Now, here's where the hard part of this starts, while this should also work outside of the corner, Chariot Spit is quite heavily range-dependent, meaning that fewer hits from it might cause your jump-in to fail, which is why it's not as good outside of the corner. Still, if done right, it is possible against most characters in the game, which makes it a really overpowered tool, as looped once, it does over 40% damage if not more, and it can lead to a Stand Crash. Some alternative loop versions which you might want to try out: (combo starter) 236+B/C>236+B/C>236+S d.2C 5A 5A 5B 236+B/C>236+B/C>236+S... - Recommended only against characters with wide hitboxes (some characters with Stand On like DIO), as 5A 5A link can whiff easily otherwise. (combo starter) 236+B/C>236+B/C 2A 236+B>236+B 2A... - Works against Iggy, Alessi, Devo and Khan only for some reason. 2A into 236+B is very tight. Has a tendency to go out of range after a few loops, but can be easily done without the corner. Very useful in those particular matchups, considering these four can duck under 5A. General Strategy Black Polnareff like regular Polnareff is one of the characters with a pretty good jump in. His j.b has some pretty strong priority making a good air to ground AND air to air option. Outside of his corner loop, B.Pol doesn't have the long combos and high damage other characters can acheive. Forcing him to play relatively defensive until you can confirm a hit into his Rekka. This will usually end in a knockdown giving B.Pol some minor Oki but its not very effective. What you do need to be on the look out for are jump ins and whiff punishes. B.Pols 214+aa is air UNBLOCKABLE and does a very large amount of damage. This makes any mistake by your opponent a huge advantage for you. The super also has a very long amount of invincibility, starting from once you activate the move (before the super flash) to after silver chariot thrusts forward. Matchup Strategy Abdul Alessi Black Polnareff Chaka Devo DIO Hol Horse Hol & Boingo Iggy Joseph Jotaro Kakyoin Khan Mariah Midler New Kakyoin Petshop Polnareff Shadow Dio Rubber Soul Vanilla Ice Young Joseph Category:Characters